Yet Evie still felt like she was sitting on pins and needles.

She must have touched something wrong.

Stupidly, she should have prepared for this situation.

But she had just discovered the Count’s curse, and Lady Marso had arrived, leaving no time to prepare. Of course, this was also Evie’s fault.

Biting her lip in a sense of defeat, Evie soon collected herself.

Regret was already too late. The water had spilled, and Zion Laurel was not easy to deal with.

So she had no choice but to regain her composure and respond.

“……I confirmed the existence of the curse, but I didn’t think there was someone bold enough to curse you, Count. Then it occurred to me to think about the disposition of the past Counts of Laurel, and I wondered if the Dukes had been using the curse all along. Perhaps because handling the surveillance duty of Amaneser would be difficult when sober.”

Upon Evie’s calm explanation, Zion finally sighed.

The needless cleverness of Evie Ariate. Why discover something like this?

Curiosity killed the cat.

And that Evie Ariate, who couldn’t even keep her mouth shut, definitely looked like she’d die young.

Zion sighed, and Evie asked in a serious voice.

“Are you going to kill me?”

“I won’t kill you.”

Annoyed at the ridiculous question, Zion responded.

Evie then discreetly inquired, looking around.

“What about our butler?”

“I’ll think about it.”

Of course, he had no intention of laying a hand on him, but Zion deliberately spoke sharply.

It was annoying that Evie Ariate, who had boldly dug into his secrets and even shamelessly spread flattery, had figured out everything.

He wanted to say a few more words to her, but seeing Evie inexplicably hesitating, Zion finally softened his edge.

“I think you misunderstand; I have no intention of silencing or burying you just for making that conjecture.”

“……Then why did you throw the lightning?”

“Reflexively, because you ran.”

At Zion’s reply, Evie looked at him incredulously, almost feeling like she had been played.

Throwing lightning that should be used on a dragon at a person and saying it was reflexive? Evie, who was almost killed, was profoundly aggrieved.

But Zion was not sorry at all.

Lurking and playing games and then thinking this was all he would get?

Zion thought this way, enjoying Evie’s resentful gaze all the more.

And, at the same time, he quietly clicked his tongue.

Evie Ariate was needlessly clever, indeed.

Her conjecture was entirely correct.

The righteous House of Laurel had pushed their second sons to the frontier to fulfill their role, using a curse in the process.

This was a great secret of the Laurel, but Zion had no particular desire to conceal it.

From the beginning, he wasn’t the kind of person to care about the family’s honor, and the condition of the past Counts was already the subject of all kinds of gossip.
Moreover, nothing much would change even if it were known that the House of Laurel had used a curse.

Whether Laurel cursed his own children, buried them, or burned them in a ritual, the nobles would merely watch quietly as long as they benefited from it. The reputation of the noble House of Laurel, once pretending to be virtuous, might suffer a little.

So Zion’s subsequent warning was not for Laurel, but for Evie.

“Feel free to speculate, but it’s best not to speak it out loud. For your own safety.”

“I really don’t want to talk about it either…….”

However, Zion’s advice was completely ineffective on Evie.

Zion realized this too late and bit his tongue.

Evie Ariate, quickwitted but unable to keep her mouth shut, might really cause a major accident someday.

‘Should I lock her up?’

Zion’s heart leaned more towards confinement. And sensing that inclination, Evie quickly withdrew.

“……The conversation has suddenly turned this way, but it’s late at night, shall we continue tomorrow? And please be sure to go home tonight. The villagers must be worried about you. I’ll take care of the situation here.”

Evie said with a tired voice.

Zion also wanted to leave, feeling worn out.

But instead of agreeing, Zion looked at Evie suspiciously.

With years of fighting strong foes, Zion had a keen sense. An instinctive feeling of whether or not the enemy had a final move left.

Zion felt an odd intuition, as he did when fighting Amaneser, so he asked Evie just in case.

“Is the speculation about me what you just said?”

“No, there’s more.”

This is real…….

As Zion’s eyes sharpened, Evie retorted, irritated.

“Count, please respect the freedom of thought!”

“I do respect it. So how much more speculation is there?”

“Three more.”

Not one or two, but three, Zion had to admit she was clever.

Zion smiled at this convenient and candid curse, and Evie looked dismayed at the curse that laid everything bare.

“Tell me. In order.”

It was an invitation rather than a question, a kind of consideration.

Of course, that didn’t mean there was a way out.

So Evie began to speak, halfgiving up.

“First, I speculate that the curse on the past Laurel Counts and your current curse are different.”

“Why?”

“Because your personality is too distinctive.”

Zion’s smile deepened at Evie’s candid inner thoughts.

He got that right, too. But it wasn’t surprising. You could infer it by looking at just a few things.

So Zion nodded calmly, as if asking for more.

Evie, frustrated by his massive attitude, continued her speech.

“So I thought maybe you had broken the original curse on the Count. You must have received a curse like the past Counts before entering the boundary. And it doesn’t seem like you would have owed a debt if it weren’t for that.”

Zion’s smile changed at her continued words.

It lost its lightness and became a little more serious. Evie had correctly speculated again.

This was surprising, and Zion crossed his arms to keep from showing admiration.

Reading Zion’s mood, Evie continued.

“But since you still have a curse, Count, that might be a new curse after Sir broke it.”

Fortunately, the last speculation was weak, and Zion felt a little relieved.

But Evie’s words were not over yet.

“But you wouldn’t leave a curse unchecked in your right mind, Count, so I thought you might be condoning it. If so, it must be a curse again from the House of Laurel, intended to replace the previous one.”

In the end, all amusement left Zion’s face.

It seemed possible.

Without any more information than others, Evie Ariate had come this far with just the fact that Zion was cursed.

And what Evie had just said was a secret known to no one but Zion, not even his halfbrother, the Grand Duke of Laurel.

Feeling completely exposed, Zion felt as though he had been toyed with by a devil.
그럼에도 동요하지 않은 척 나직이 말했다.

“……Is it over?”

“No.”

Evie shook her head lightly. Then she added,

“So I’m guessing that the curse Count Philip Morris has now is a curse to prevent him from revealing the secret.”

In the end, Zion shuddered all over.